I've just done Portsmouth St Malo get your money's worth on that long crossing must be knocking on 175 miles .I've done all Brittany ferry routes now .Newhaven Dieppe next on my list then Harwich hook of Holland .I like a nice ferry crossing .

MrGrumpy wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2019 9:41 amAny will get you where you want to go, it depends on how much fun you want to have on the way and how fast you want to get there!

Really don’t know wot you mean by how much fun - and if you want to factor in speed then a scooter isn’t the way to go - I have had the good opportunity to ride powerful motorcycles all over europe however I had as much fun/enjoyment riding my 300cc scooter through europe as I did on the bigger machines

Symcity wrote " I have had the good opportunity to ride powerful motorcycles all over europe however I had as much fun/enjoyment riding my 300cc scooter through europe as I did on the bigger machines"
I second that. It's surprising how quickly you adapt to the pace and the relaxed touring mode of a scooter. Certainly arrive at the end of your day feeling better for riding a scooter.
Once went to Paul Ricard Circuit , near Marseille, split into two groups at Calais. First group going hell for leather. Second group agreed to adhere to speed limits. Over the 430 odd miles to the first overnight stop the first group arrived1 and a half hours before us. They had used nearly twice as much petrol and all went to bed very early. Needless to say the group adhering to the speed limits was larger the next day for the last 450 odd miles.

Main thing is get there and back in one piece and give scooter an easy time .Especially on the belt exessive heat will do them in .

muddyfox wrote: ↑Thu May 30, 2019 4:43 am Symcity wrote " I have had the good opportunity to ride powerful motorcycles all over europe however I had as much fun/enjoyment riding my 300cc scooter through europe as I did on the bigger machines"
I second that. It's surprising how quickly you adapt to the pace and the relaxed touring mode of a scooter. Certainly arrive at the end of your day feeling better for riding a scooter.
Once went to Paul Ricard Circuit , near Marseille, split into two groups at Calais. First group going hell for leather. Second group agreed to adhere to speed limits. Over the 430 odd miles to the first overnight stop the first group arrived1 and a half hours before us. They had used nearly twice as much petrol and all went to bed very early. Needless to say the group adhering to the speed limits was larger the next day for the last 450 odd miles.

That's a great little story muddyfox. Whilst the hectic pace of the 'fast group' might be appealing, for the enjoyment of fast riding - and I bet a good deal of us have done the 'first group' riding over the years - secretly, we know that slower 'relaxed' riding = as much fun and enjoyment with all the added bonuses you mentioned and more!

Morning folks,
Apologies for the delay in replying, out all day in Edinburgh in a series of meetings.

As I thought would be the case, the dealers that had said that they would give me a good price for my two bikes, once they actually spoke with the powers that be ended up coming back to me with half what they originally said Looks like the best route is for me to sell the bikes privately which I dread as, from previous experience, there seem to be so many nitwits and chancers out there when negotiating prices and I'm far too soft when it comes to discussing money

The good thing about getting out into the big city yesterday was that it gave me the opportunity to see in the 'flesh' the new Xmax 400 and TMax and also a Burg 400 a dealer had for sale. Must say, seeing the bikes up close and not just via images on the internet, I didn't realise how large these machines are. Wasn't overly taken with the width of the back end of the XMax and visually, not keen on the Suzuki I'm afraid - maybe shallow, however, feel I need to like the looks of a bike as well as the practical performance matters.

Also, when coming out of Edinburgh on my way back home, I (possibly foolishly) popped into BMW in Dalkeith to see if they had any C650 Sports in so that again, I could make a comparison in terms of size to the other contenders and fit and finish of the bikes. As to be expected, they had none in stock, however, they did have a couple of new C400Xs on the showroom. I must say that I was pretty taken with how the looked, further enhanced by the new TFT display option that was on both bikes - that set up surely has to be the future of bike dashes. I narrowly escaped with my limited wallet after the salesperson almost convinced me of the merits of signing up with a PCP repayment plan of only £50 per month if I put £2k down - very dangerous this whole PCP thing of which I knew very little about before yesterday.

Has been maxi tours, in answer to your earlier question about the proposed trip, I plan to ride all the way down, stopping off along the way at friends in Kent, then visiting/staying with my sister who lives near Bordeaux, finally meeting up with my partner and her friends who are planning to walk from Porto to Santiago de Compostela in the north of Spain.

Symcity - that sounds just the ticket - appreciate the feedback - your Rhine trip sounds fab.

To add another bike into the equation - sorry - I'm going to try to get over to the west coast this afternoon to view a Kymco Xciting 400i with ABS, 10,600 miles going for £3k - though that 'beak' frontend makes me squirm - lol.

Again, thank you all for your comments and apologies if I've not replied individually to some of them.

Have a great rest of what's left of the week

Sounds perfect Symcity!

Symcity wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2019 7:15 pm

MrGrumpy wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2019 9:41 amAny will get you where you want to go, it depends on how much fun you want to have on the way and how fast you want to get there!

Really don’t know wot you mean by how much fun - and if you want to factor in speed then a scooter isn’t the way to go - I have had the good opportunity to ride powerful motorcycles all over europe however I had as much fun/enjoyment riding my 300cc scooter through europe as I did on the bigger machines

This looks nice too - foolishly thought when seeing these mentioned, they were 300cc - shows how little I know about scooters!

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified ... RZA&page=1

actually - is the listing wrong at 489cc?

The Kymco is a pretty good bike, very competitive with the BMW and Xmax, only snag is that Kymco distributor changed recently and the new one seems very amateur. The map of dealers on their website is at least partly a fantasy! Hopefully spares can be sourced from somewhere.

Graffig wrote: ↑Thu May 30, 2019 6:58 am This looks nice too - foolishly thought when seeing these mentioned, they were 300cc - shows how little I know about scooters!

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified ... RZA&page=1

No, you are right, and the autotrader person is an idiot. A Forza 300 has 279cc!